


The fundamentals of living (Happy)

by imaginaryDemons



Series: the trashcan ship [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-21 21:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16584242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginaryDemons/pseuds/imaginaryDemons
Summary: RK900 had failed. He never did. He wasn't programmed to. But yet his partner was lying in front of him on a hospital bed and had just jumped off the brink of death. He had failed.





	1. Failure

**Author's Note:**

> "Not another AU" I hear you yell while I just keep coming up with more crap. I swear I will eventually finish the oyher works in the trashcan ship series!!  
> But I just watched the fundamentals of caring and I needed this. Besides as a wheelchair user I want some damn representation :-)  
> That being said, I have no idea how spinal cord injuries work in a medical sense.  
> Hope you enjoy this anyway and I AM SORRY???

He heard the peeping of a strange machine; his head was buzzing, and his body felt numb. For a few seconds he was certain he was in heaven, a very strange kind of heaven. The bright light that illuminated the back of his eyelids, made it seem even more so.   
What was happening? Gavin didn’t know but thinking made his head hurt and he simply couldn’t focus, every time he tried to recall what had happened, he seemed to hit some kind of wall. Opening his eyes would probably help him, but something kept him from doing so, most likely it was the bad premonition that was sitting in his stomach.  
“Detective?”, a familiar voice sounded trough to him. His android partner, his mind informed him slowly and drew pictures behind his eyelids. Tall dark and handsome, LED on his temple. Too perfect to be real, yet he was. Gavin felt the urge to sigh, but he was restrained by a heavy feeling on his chest. The premonition began to rise up his body, began to trench every fibre inside of him. No.  
“Detective Reed, can you hear me?”, the android insisted. Was that fear in his voice? Shit, the medication Gavin was apparently on, really played tricks on him.   
But even if it was imagined, he didn’t like the sound in his partners voice. Slowly he opened his eyes and tried to turn his head, but again he was restrained. He was instantly blinded as well, and it took him a few seconds to focus his gaze, though a bit of blurriness in his peripheral vision remained.  
“Detective?”  
“M…”, damn his throat was try and hurt. What the fuck had happened to him? Yes, by now it was clear, that he was in hospital, he could tell by the gown he was wearing and the white walls around him, but that was about it.  
“Do you require some water?”   
Instead of answering, he nodded his head, which he could only slightly, but Richard seemed to understand. Blessed be those damned Android senses.   
Said android now reached over to the bedside table, where a glass with a straw and a bottle of mineral water was placed. Swiftly he poured some into it and all the human could do is watch him. Once the glass was filled to his satisfaction, he held it close to Gavin’s mouth, so he could reach the straw with his lips.  
Greedily he took a sip and only then realized how thirsty he was, within seconds he emptied the glass and Richard went to refill it once more and held it out to him again.  
“Slowly”, his android partner scolded him, but there was no harshness to it, only … affection?  
“Damn it, tin-can.”, his throat still felt raw and he had to keep his voice down, but it felt good to be talking again nonetheless.  
Carefully Richard placed the glass back and then turned to face the human.  
“So, fill me in, what the fuck happened?”  
Suddenly the androids LED flashed red and stayed that way. Instantly Gavin’s stomach tied up, while Richards face grimaced. There was so much pain displayed in his face, he hated it so, so, so much, wanted that expression to disappear, but it stayed. And he wasn’t sure, if he was hallucinating, but the android’s eyes seemed to fill with tears, which he quickly blinked away.  
Oh fuck.  
“What is it?”  
A big frown on his face, the android finally found the mental capability to answer. His LED was still flashing in a bright and warning red though.  
“I am sorry detective …”  
Gavin rose his eyebrows, what?   
“I failed you and I am so sorry, there was nothing I could do, I tried to save you, but, but I-I…”, he broke off, his face now actually spilling over with tears.  
His android partner, who was built to be an unfeeling machine, cried. Cried for him and for whatever the fuck had happened. His head was spinning and his mind raced, all of this only confused him more.  
“For fucks sake, I am not a baby.”, that sentence definitely didn’t come out as demanding as he had intended to, but it was all he could muster right now.  
For a few seconds, Richard held his gaze, seemed to consider whatever possibilities he had and how Gavin would react to either of them. He knew that look very well by now, had seen the android pre-construct possible outcomes so many times, but right now he wished he would just get it over with. The feeling in his stomach started to evolve into something bigger and soon enough he wouldn’t be able to ignore it anymore.  
“Detective … you have been shot.”   
Still he didn’t understand, he had been shot many times already, and always turned out to be fine. There were still a few scars on his skin, that reminded him of those incidents, but other than that, he was okay. That’s the way it always had been. Always.   
His partner seemed to sense his confusion and went on to explain further, albeit very quietly and Gavin had to strain to be able to hear, but at least the tears had stopped, and the android seemed to be back at his cold and uncaring self.  
“You have been shot…”  
“Yes, you said that already.”  
“While we were out on a case. One of the gang members we were chasing had a gun, but the bullets weren’t fitting, so he wasn’t able to aim properly.”  
He wished Richard would get to the point but kept quiet. Eventually he would.  
“One of the bullets trailed of and hit your spine. It got lodged in your spinal cord and they had to operate to get it out. You could have died. You almost died.”  
So far so good. His tired brain tried to process the influx of information as fast as he could.  
“And it is bad?”  
Richard slowly nodded. Averting his gaze and no longer able to look at his human.  
“I failed you. I could have-“  
“Bullshit.”  
Androids couldn’t fail, especially not his RK900, they weren’t programmed for failure. This was all some terrible dream and his partner was just joking around so he’d be more careful next time. He didn’t want to understand what the words actually meant, didn’t want to comprehend. And Richard just looked so sad, so incredibly sad.  
“I fear, it is the truth, I wish I could tell you otherwise, I wish I would have been fast enough.”  
With a lot of strain, the human lifted his arm, reaching out for his partner, wanting to comfort him, but he just looked at it, before he dropped his gaze. Gavin hated that self-loathing behaviour.  
“I am sure you did your best R, you always do.”, but his words didn’t reach him.  
“I certainly did not. I failed you.”  
“So would have a human partner.”  
This earned him a short yellow flicker of Richard’s LED, before it went back to the warning red.   
“But I am not human.”  
“You are allowed to make mistakes though.”, they both knew, it was a lie, but Gavin hated seeing his android that way. It was usually him who hated himself and R who built him up again, he hated those reverse roles, hated this situation, wished he could go back to … to when? He didn’t even know how long he had been out. Fuck.   
Changing the subject, he asked “how long have I been …?”  
“8 days 12 hours 33 minutes and 21.8 seconds”  
He couldn’t keep a surprised sound from escaping.  
“Richard?”, he asked, keeping his voice as low and soft as possible.  
Finally, his gaze was met again and again he reached out for the others’ hand once more, hoping that this time he would take it. He wanted him to know, that he wasn’t mad, that even a perfect machine wasn’t without fail, that he would figure this out, he always did. Hope began to dull the anxiety inside him, he was right, he always had figured out the shit his life had thrown at him, he would now too.  
“What happened to me?”  
“You have a paraplegia spinal cord injury and the doctors aren’t sure yet how severely you are affected.”  
He shot the android a questioning look.  
“It means, you won’t be able to move your legs … and the specialists have yet to test your control on your bladder and everything below your pelvic area.”  
Gavin’s mind was still too foggy, and he was just so tired. He would think about that later, once he gained back full control of his thoughts.  
“I can sense your vitals slowing down, I should leave you to rest, detective.”  
No. He didn’t want to be alone. Not right now.  
“Stay. Please?”  
For a moment Richard looked genuinely confused, apparently this was the least thing he expected from Gavin, but the detective didn’t care right now. Even if it was the medication he was currently on or his damned brain. He wanted his partner to stay, too scared of what would happen if he left. Seemingly the hunch had changed; shifted to the android next to him, but he never had seen him so out of it and something told him, that Richard needed him as much as he needed him right now.   
“You want me to stay?”  
“Yeah, I fucking hate hospitals they give me the creeps”, a half lie. An excuse.   
Considering for a bit, Richard looked at him. Probably analyzing simultaniously.  
“If you insist.”  
“Yeah, fuck.”  
The exhaustion was barely bearable at this point and it was way too hard to keep his eyes open. They could discuss everything they had left unsaid later. And then he would kick his partners ass for being so hard on himself, that was, if he ever regained use of his legs.  
“I am so sorry, Gavin”  
“I know”, he mumbled, before drifting off into a heavy and drug induced sleep.


	2. Together.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard was still there. He had stayed. Because he had asked him to. The android had seemingly gone into stasis right next to him and hadn’t left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really have nothing to say, besides that it is 5 a.m. I am tired and this is basically just a filler chapter to shape G and 9 out a bit more.
> 
> Also I'd love to get some feedback and Kudos :~) it keeps me thriving.

When Gavin woke up again, the room was dark, and he wasn’t really sure, how long he had been out. His brain still felt a bit fuzzy and for a moment he thought everything he remembered, was nothing but a nightmare, but once his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light around him, he remembered; he remembered, that it was in fact not. He had been in an accident and he was really lying in this hospital bed. Then he recalled another vital issue.  
As quickly as possible – without hurting himself –, he turned his head and instantly felt relieve flush through his body. Richard was still there. He had stayed. Because he had asked him to. The android had seemingly gone into stasis right next to him and hadn’t left.   
Gavin wished he would be able to shake his head, to clear his mind, but a simple sigh had to suffice. The human didn’t want to confess why he had wanted the android to stay. It was not only, because he didn’t want to be alone, like he had told him, but he was scared for his partner. He just had seemed so out of it, as if he’d hurt himself as soon as he’d get out and he couldn’t let that happen, because he was a fuckup and not worth that kind of sacrifice, but also because he cared about that advanced iPhone a lot. After all they had been partnered for a few months now and were practically flying through their cases. Even Fowler only recently admitted that to him, which filled him with pride.  
It felt so good being on the sunny side of life for once and he didn’t want to give that up, yet. Though he probably had to anyways, his legs – as far as he understood – didn’t work anymore and an officer in a chair was an impossible thing. An unsettling feeling started to form in the pit of his stomach once again and he sighed in attempt to shake it off. Started to push back the thoughts, that began occupying his mind, he could think about that later, once it actually became an issue. Maybe Fowler would even take pity on him. But first of all, he had to focus on his recovery, so he could kick the guy that got him there.   
Staring into the darkness, he contemplated for a while longer, as Richard began to move.  
“Detective, you are awake.”, he whispered, keeping his voice at a level Gavin had to concentrate to understand.  
“Of course, I am awake, humans don’t fucking hibernate.”  
The RK900 pulled up one corner of his mouth, though only slightly.   
“I am glad you are still yourself.”  
As if he would let himself drag him down like that, he knew this was an overstatement, but the survival mode inside him had kicked in, and he wanted to stay alive. Wanted to fight for whatever was left of his life.   
“You are underestimating me, tin-can.”  
“I apparently am.”  
“Can you hand me my drink, please?”, he demanded, more so to change the topic.  
His partner nodded, reaching for the glass on the bedside table, and gingerly bringing it closer to Gavin, that he was able to drink.  
Once he was finished, he put the glass back and Gavin observed the android. He seemed to be back at his usual stoic self, but his detective-self didn’t trust the peace.  
“How are you feeling, plastic?”  
A risen eyebrow, a few yellow flickers of an LED.   
“Why are you asking, detective?”  
Gavin huffed, “can’t a man care about someone else?”, he stated more than asked. He knew the answer, after all he had built up a reputation over the past years in the precinct. He had chosen to do so himself.  
“A man yes, but not Gavin Reed.”  
“Well, surprise, surprise I do care, so stop fucking around and tell me how you are feeling.”  
Richard took his time before replying and for a moment Gavin thought, he wouldn’t get a reply.  
“I have to be frank with you I feel terrible.”  
Oh.   
“You shouldn’t.”  
“But I f¬-“  
Gavin slammed his hand on the bed, almost getting tangled in the cables and the android jumps up at that.   
“Careful, detective.”  
“Fuck it R, I am not a child, I can look out for myself, I can now, and I could have then. You didn’t fail me. Yes, you didn’t see the shot coming, but again, a human wouldn’t either. And I expect nothing more from you, than being human – which means, it’s okay to make mistakes.”, he surprised himself there, but it was the truth, he wasn’t mad at his partner, if all, he was mad at himself.  
Richard's eyes grew wide at that, which was such a human notion and only told Reed, how human the android had become after going deviant. Truth be told, he hadn’t been at first and it did take him a while to come across as remotely human, but by now he had mastered it.   
His LED flickered to red for a few seconds, “Why, detective?”  
“Because.”, what did he expect.  
“You used to hate me, us, my kind, why aren’t you angry now that you have every right to be?”  
Damn, that android was really challenging him currently. Squinting his eyes shut, Gavin took a deep breath, before answering.  
“Because I may be a dick, but I am not stupid, tin-can. I understand when energy is wasted and hating you or Connor, or really anyone else. I’d be fucking damned. And you won’t hear that from me again, so take this for what it is and thank the drugs, that are currently inside me – I am glad that you are my partner.”  
Once he finished his sentence, he finally dared to look at the android again and again the colour of his LED has changed. This time into a yellow though, considering and analysing what he just had said. Gavin lightly brushes his fingers over the blanket, focusing on the feeling under his fingers. It was oddly soft – especially for hospital bedding.   
After a few more seconds, he gets an unexpected reply.  
“I am content, that we are partners too.”  
“Sure.”, he scoffs.  
“I mean it, you have thought me so much and I couldn’t-“  
“Oh god, Richard, stop. I am not high enough for that kind of corniness.”, he snapped back, without much bite to his voice.  
His partner tilted his head.  
“You should get some more sleep, detective.”  
“Can’t.”  
“You haven’t even tried.”  
“I did sleep for god knows how long, I can’t.”  
“You have slept 5.3-“  
“Shut it, plastic, that was rhetorical.”, he grinned at RK.  
Then an idea struck him, and he wondered, if the android was under his conscience enough to get him out.  
“You know what, tin-man, if you care so much about my well-being, get me out of here.”  
Another head tilt, “I am afraid I can’t follow your request.”  
“Just get me somewhere else, before I go insane.”  
The androids LED goes yellow, scanning him.  
“And where would you like to go?”  
Somwhere. But apparently there is no need to reply, as Richard starts to carefully pull back the covers. This was, when it hit Gavin, that it is the first time of him seeing his – now useless – legs. They look oddly normal still.  
“Is this okay? Are you?”, Richard whispers.  
The detective nods, not sure on what to reply.  
Carefully R hacks into the machines, so they wouldn’t sound an alarm, before unplugging him from them and Gavin is surprised at the RK900’s capabilities. Cyberlife really had thought about a lot.   
Somewhat clumsily the human scoots over to the edge of the bed, expecting Richard to pull up a wheelchair for him to get into, but instead he scoops him up, like he weights nothing. Carrying him bridal style. In any other situation he would have complained, but at least he got out now.  
However, he couldn’t keep a “the fuck”, from escaping.  
Quickly R took Gavin’s blanked, and draping it over him, before walking out onto the hall, carefully avoiding any nurse androids.   
“Where are we going?”, the detective asked.  
“You’ll see.”  
Something told Gavin, that any protest wouldn’t result in anything, so he set on looking around and a shiver ran through him. Hospitals really gave him the creeps and Gavin was sure, the android could feel his reaction, but simply chose not to comment, instead walking for another few minutes until he walked up a few flights of stairs.  
By now he had a slight idea, to where they were heading, and he liked it. A few moments later the hunch he had had, was deemed as correct, when his partner pushed open the door to the roof.  
“It isn’t locked …?”, he asked no one in particular.  
“Normally humans won’t get here anyway.”  
Right. Obviously. He internally rolled his eyes. Steel eyes looked down at him and his partner walked over to some chimney or something along the lines. Sitting down and placing Gavin on his lap.  
The human tried not to focus too much on how close they were, but at least he was warm. As soon as he had somewhat settled into the situation, he finally looked up and was even able to see a few stars, even besides the light pollution of 2036 Detroit.  
A content sigh escaped him, and the android wrapped his arms tighter around him.  
“Thanks for getting me out here, tin-can.”  
For the first time in a while, he got a proper smile, from his partner and he had to look into the sky again to stop any feelings from escaping.  
They sat like this for a few minutes, before Richardspoke again.  
“I still don’t understand, how you are not mad at me.”  
Sighing for what felt like the millionth time, he looked back at the other man’s face.  
“Because I have no right to be, now shut up.”  
“B-“  
“No”, he cut him off, really not feeling going on with the discussion anymore.  
“Gavin.”  
The use of his first name, surprised him, but he let it slide in favour to finally shut the android up.   
“We will figure this out, together and if I make you carry me everywhere. “, he stuck his tongue out at RK900 at the last few words. Emphasizing that, he was content right now and just wanted to enjoy the moment right now.  
“Together.”, the android echoes, before averting Gavin’s gaze and looking into the sky and the human followed his example. In the end Gavin wasn’t sure, how long they had been there, but he could see the soft colours of dawn rise behind the skyline of Detroit.


End file.
